Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 35, August 25 to 31 2025
During Epiweek 35, 15 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nigeria, Seychelles, South Africa, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. During week 35, 820 specimens were collected, and 661 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 35, 49 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 7.4%), of which 43 specimens were Influenza A, and 6 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 32), Influenza A (H3)
(n = 5), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 6), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 4), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 2).
SARS-CoV-2
In Epiweek 35, of the 792 specimens processed by 11 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 15 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 1.9%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 35, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 54,165 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 2,372 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 4.4%).